Bend and Not Break
by kogalover0809
Summary: Can Vash welcome in Meryl's love, or will he reject it.


**Author's Note: **I do not own any of the Trigun characters; also this one-shot was based on a song with the same name, belonging to Dashboard Confessionals. (This is my very first story written many years ago. Sorry for it being a little lame.)

**Bend and Not Break**

It had been two weeks since the "Vash and Knives" incident. Vash had been visiting Knives every day since then, and after a long day at the hospital, Vash started to make his way back to the nearby inn he was staying at. On his way to the inn he spotted Meryl juggling five grocery bags.

"Need help?" she smiled at the familiar voice.

"No thanks, I've got…"but before she could finish her sentence Vash had already taken three of the bags from her grasp."Oh! Thanks." As they walked along, silence grew between them. "So…how is Knives doing?" Meryl asked.

"He's getting better. The doctor said he wouldn't have made it the first week without immediate care…so I should be thanking you." He stopped and looked at her.

"Um, Vash it's getting late…" Meryl started to say, but he cut her off. The bags slipped from her hands as he pulled her into his chest. Shocked, Meryl slowly wrapped her arms around his firm body. She heard the beating of his heart as her head rose and fell with the rhythm of his breathing. Without noticing, she let out a soft sigh.

Vash smiled and looked her in the eyes, "Let's go," he said as he stooped down to grab all the bags. Meryl followed him with her head down, which stopped him from noticing her pink tinted face. Quietly she walked following his footsteps.

'Should I tell him now?' Meryl thought. The moon was out and the stars were beginning to twinkle in the night.

"Beautiful night," Vash said breaking Meryl's thoughts.

"Oh yes, very beautiful," she said as she smiled at the night sky.

'But not as beautiful as you,' he though. They reached the inn that they were staying at, and Meryl opened her door.

"You can set the bags down on the table, but be quiet because Milly is asleep," she whispered. He set the bags down on the table as told and was headed out of her room when he heard her whisper.

"Vash?"

"Yeah?" He turned around and walked towards her. Here they were all alone gazing at each other.

"I…um…I…goodnight," she said tossing back the words she was afraid to say.

"Oh, right goodnight." He left her room and she slumped against the door.

Meryl woke with swarming thoughts, 'When will this… this feeling go away?" She hopped out of bed and went straight to Vash's room. The lights were out, so she knocked on the door…no answer. She opened the door slowly and lying there, sprawled across the bed lay Vash. She crawled next to him and looked at his face. "I love you," she whispered. She hugged him and kissed his forehead and quietly slipped out, closing the door behind her, not even noticing the eyes of Vash staring at her inquisitively.

The next morning Vash woke and went to go check up on the girls. "Hey Vash, good morning," Milly and Meryl said as he walked in.  
"Did you sleep well?" Meryl asked. He looked at her and smiled, "I had the best sleep ever." She turned as she felt a smile creep to her face.

"Hey Vash, Meryl and I went out and got you some doughnuts," Milly said pushing a plate of glazed doughnuts in front of him. His eyes widened and he stuffed as many doughnuts as he could down his throat. He muffled at them, "Want some?"

"No thanks, they're all for you," they laughed.

After breakfast he invited them to go visit Knives at the hospital. "Sure we'd love…," Milly started, but Meryl bumped her and gave her a look. "Oh, wait I can't go. Got things to do, but Meryl's not busy,"

"Sorry you can't go," he said. "Let's go Meryl." Meryl smiled at Milly and Milly winked back.

"Good luck Meryl…and try not to hurt her Vash," Milly whispered as they walked away.

The sun was already out as they started towards the hospital. 'I wish I could tell her how I really feel, but…I don't want to hurt her.' Vash thought. He turned to look at Meryl and caught her staring up at him.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked

"What...oh nothing," he said as he felt the blood rush to his head.

'Oh no! What's he thinking? Am I boring? What if he doesn't…feel the same way,' Meryl thought. 'I have to tell him, it's now or never. I just…I hope he feels what I feel. I…I just need to feel him against me.'

"Vash," Meryl started to say.

"Yeah?" he looked at her soft, beautiful face, and glowing eyes. She grabbed his waist and buried her face deep into this chest. 'Oh no. What did I do? Is she going to tell he how she feels…I don't know…Meryl please don't tell me.'

.

She looked up at him, "Vash, we've been through so much together. We've seen many things, one including death. But there's one thing I haven't seen for myself. Vash I…I love you." Dead silence. Meryl's hopes were slowly dying as time slowly passed. 'I knew he didn't love me.'

"Meryl," he said, "I…I do love you. But I'm not ready…"

She cut him off, "It's okay. That's all I wanted to hear, really."

"No Meryl, that's not what I meant. I do love you. Everything about you: your skin, your hair, your eyes, your smile. It's all killing me inside. I'm just scared to mess it up. Things don't go very smoothly with me you know. Bad family background," he chuckled. He brought her into a hug.

"Vash, it's not like that. So what if bad things happen around us. I want you and I need you," Meryl said tears glistening in the sun.

"Meryl I…I," he stammered.

He looked at her, "Meryl...I want to be with you too." She gasped and he grabbed her lips with his. He kissed her softly, but soon their kiss deepened and grew passionate as she melted into him.

He broke the kiss and laid his head on her forehead, smiled and said, "Let's go tell Knives our good news." She looked at him as he took her hand. 'God do I love this girl!' He thought as they walked along the path.

That's it. It was a originally a songfic…but who does those anymore?


End file.
